Experiences of sex trafficking victims in Mumbai, India

Silverman, Jay G.; Decker, Michele R.; Gupta, Jhumka; Maheshwari, Ayonija; Patel, Vipul P.; Willis, Brian; Raj, Anita

doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2006.12.003

Cited by 65 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…For example, substance abuse by a family member may lead to interpersonal violence, or negligence whereas the use of the Internet may expose someone to inappropriate deviant online social groups. Lifestyle activities involving victims from India mostly consist of a demographic characteristic which is poor and uneducated (Silverman et al 2007), as well as of women who are already victims of abandonment, marginalization, and abuse which highlights the role of these factors in explaining human trafficking of young women and girls for involuntary prostitution. Van der Hoven and Maree (2005) also argued that it is most likely that the traffickers pick victims from familiar places after observing their lifestyle, understanding how gullible and prone they are, which also ensures a low possibility of the victims reporting the traffickers to the authorities.…”

Section: Lifestyle Risk Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Trafficking patterns in India indicate that about 90% of the trafficking is domestic (intra-state and inter-state) with only 10% taking place across international borders (Nair and Sen 2004). India maintains close border proximity with its immediate neighbours and out of the girls trafficked into India, most come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Cambodia (Silverman et al 2007). Given India's size and diversity, trafficking trends differ across all 29 states (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In a study conducted by Silverman et al (2007) with victims of sex trafficking, it was found that one in six girls were under the age of 16, 51.9% were trafficked as a minor, 59.7% reported that their trafficker were known to them, of promises made, economic opportunity was the primary attraction in more than half of the sample (55%) and lastly, 49.4% reported some sort of family disruption (violence involving the spouse or other family members) as a direct cause of them being trafficked. It was concluded that the interaction of poverty, lack of education, gender-based discrimination, and ill treatment of women in India heightens the risk of sex trafficking.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Sex Slavery in India: Unpacking the Stories of Trafficking Victims

Pandey¹

2016

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While there is no consensus on the number of domestic sex trafficking victims in India, the phenomenon is estimated to be widespread and the evidence of its impact on victims is devastating. This paper explored the narratives of 10 sex trafficked women from a major non-government organization in New Delhi. Qualitative methodology was adopted and data were collected through open-ended unstructured interviews. The victimological paradigm including the Lifestyle Risk Model (LRM)by Van der Hoven and Maree provided the framework to discuss the key issues related to sex trafficking. Psychological experiences such as being abused by husbands, and in some cases, victims' own families; social conditions such as poverty and education; cultural practices such as vulnerability of women and marginalization; and lifestyle risk factors were observed throughout the stories of the victims. Furthermore, shame was found to be the core emotion in the stigmatization process.Limitations and future directions are also discussed.

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Section: Lifestyle Risk Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Sex Slavery in India: Unpacking the Stories of Trafficking Victims

Pandey¹

2016

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“…Both familial violence and economic insecurity are conditions that traffickers tend to manipulate to their advantage when coercing or luring young girls into precarious situations, such as sexual exploitation. 16 Reports of rape of young women in Haiti's earthquake refugee camps have already spread. 17 These precarious situations place girls at risk of HIV infection, additional sexual and physical violence, mental trauma and poor reproductive outcomes, including unwanted pregnancy.…”

Section: After the Earthquakementioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic aftershocks of an earthquake on the well-being of children in Haiti: violence, psychosocial health and slavery

Gupta¹,

Agrawal²

2010

Canadian Medical Association Journal

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earthquake in Haiti, chronic poverty, lack of infrastructure and poor performance on key health indicators had long threatened the well-being of Haiti's children. Though Haiti ratified the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1994, 1 this nation has the highest mortality rates among infants, children less than five years of age and mothers in the Western hemisphere.2 Only 50% of primary school-aged children are enrolled in school, and less than 2% complete secondary school.2 Adult life expectancy is a mere 61 years, and the national HIV prevalence is 2.2%. 2Since the earthquake, the well-being and safety of children, who comprise 37.5% of Haiti's population, totalling 3 453 709 children, 3 have become a focal point of global attention. The threat of child trafficking has been underscored as a particularly imminent health and safety issue in this postdisaster setting. Child trafficking is not a new issue in Haiti. It often occurs within the context of other health and safety concerns, such as poverty, gender-based violence against women and household health, including the health of children's caregivers. In this analysis, we describe the extent of the health and safety risks faced by Haiti's most vulnerable children before the earthquake, highlight how such risks may now be exacerbated and suggest how the risks may be addressed in the future. Children at riskWe used the results of the Haitian demographic health survey Enquête Mortalité, Morbidité et Utilisation des Services that collected nationally representative data from September 2005 to June 2006. We analyzed data from 7773 surveyed households, where 22 495 children resided. 4 We found that 32.5% of households with children met the UNICEF definition of orphaned and vulnerable children 5 and that 5.2% of adult heads of households with children admitted to harbouring a restavèk (Haitian Creole for "stay with"). The UN considers restavèks to be victims of modern-day child slavery.6 Rich families were more likely to have restavèks (p ≤ 0.05); about 69% of restavèks worked in rich households, compared with 16% who worked in poor households. Restavèks were more likely to be girls than boys (p ≤ 0.05); almost 77% of restavèks were girls, and 23% were boys. Restavèks are often the result of impoverished Haitian parents turning their children over to wealthier families with the hope that the children would perform household labour in exchange for food, shelter and schooling.6 Unfortunately, the restavèk system often results in exploitative situations; research shows that restavèks, especially young girls, are subjected to high rates of physical and sexual abuse. 6 Among orphaned and vulnerable children, 51.4% of girls and 48.6% of boys lived in a household where they were exposed to male-perpetrated physical or sexual violence against female intimate partners in the year preceding the survey (Figure 1). 4 Moreover, orphaned and vulnerable children were more likely to live with an HIV-infected adult than nonorphaned and vulnerable children (p ...

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“…Sex workers, including women trafficked for the commercial sex trade, also experience a number of physical and psychological health risks (Stewart and Gajic-Veljanoski, 2005). Sex trafficked women and girls are vulnerable to HIV infection (Silverman et al, 2006), and coinfection with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (Silverman et al, 2008). A number of campaigns to raise awareness and to help in the prevention, treatment, care and support of sex workers regarding HIV/AIDS have been conducted around the world (Willis and Levy, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

Reduction of Health-Related Risks Among Female Commercial Sex Workers: Learning From Their Life and Working Experiences

Ohnishi

Notiço

2011

Health Care for Women International

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We performed this study to determine both positive and negative impacts on the health of sex workers working on the street. We conducted this study using key informant and focus group interviews in bars and streets in Mozambique. The interviewed sex workers were aware about the risks and protection against sexually transmitted infections, and consistently used condoms. Most suffered from harmful behaviour, including violence and assault by both customers and other commercial sex workers. We found that sex workers' own skills and knowledge acquired through experience could potentially be developed into life skills that could save and protect their lives. In some countries in southern Africa, the population aged between 15 and 49 has an HIV infection prevalence rate of more than 30%. Furthermore, among young people aged 15 to 24 years old in the countries of southern Africa, women have a 3.6 times higher rate of HIV infection than men (UNAIDS, 2008) as women are anatomically more susceptible to HIV infection than men. However, in some cases, this is also due to the involvement of women in the sex industry, rape, and sexual violence, which are linked to vulnerability to infection and social factors, such as poverty and gender inequity (Rekart, 2005). This has also resulted in an increase in the number of families headed by children-usually the eldest brother or sister (UNICEF, 2003). Due to economic difficulties, the girls in these families often engage in commercial sex work to sustain the other siblings (Lindblade et al., 2003).People engaged in the commercial sex trade work face difficulties in receiving public support or assistance. Sex workers, including women trafficked for the commercial sex trade, also experience a number of physical and psychological health risks (Stewart and Gajic-Veljanoski, 2005). Sex trafficked women and girls are vulnerable to HIV infection (Silverman et al., 2006), and coinfection with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (Silverman et al., 2008). A number of campaigns to raise awareness and to help in the prevention, treatment, care and support of sex workers regarding HIV/AIDS have been conducted around the world (Willis and Levy, 2002). However, the results were insufficient, and several problems remain to be resolved, such as chronic poverty and issues related to human rights (Huda, 2006).Thailand and a number of other countries have implemented successful programmes for the promotion and prevention of HIV/AIDS among sex workers (Nelson et al., 1996;Ford and Koetsawang, 1999). However, the countries of southern Africa have not been able to achieve significant changes because of differences in economic and social conditions, and the extremely high prevalence of HIV infection in this region (UNAIDS, 2008). Effective intervention for people at risk of HIV infection, such as sex workers, is urgently needed in this region in general and in Mozambique in particular. Thus, a number of difficulties remain to be overcome in Mozambique. We consider it is important to imp...

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Experiences of sex trafficking victims in Mumbai, India

Cited by 65 publications

References 19 publications

Sex Slavery in India: Unpacking the Stories of Trafficking Victims

Sex Slavery in India: Unpacking the Stories of Trafficking Victims

Chronic aftershocks of an earthquake on the well-being of children in Haiti: violence, psychosocial health and slavery

Reduction of Health-Related Risks Among Female Commercial Sex Workers: Learning From Their Life and Working Experiences

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